We demonstrate that a complete class of flat-band lattices with underlying commutative local symmetries exhibit a locally fragmented Hilbert space. The equitable partition theorem ensures distinct parities for the compact localized states (CLSs) present in this class of flat-band lattices and the extended eigenstates of the system. In the presence of on-site bosonic interactions, such models exhibit a conserved quantity, the parity of the number of particles located in all the CLSs in a unit cell. As a consequence, the Hilbert space presents local fragmentation, which is only revealed upon rotating the basis of the Hamiltonian that decouples the CLSs at the single-particle level. We find that the fragmentation is strong and also robust to the addition of long-range interactions. As an example, we numerically analyze the fragmentation of the one-dimensional pyrochlore chain, which exhibits nonintegrable sectors, effective single-particle sectors, and frozen states. We also show that the entanglement entropies form a nested-dome structure typical of these fragmented systems and that thermalization is restricted to each subsector.
We demonstrate that a complete class of flat-band lattices with underlying commutative local symmetries exhibit a locally fragmented Hilbert space. The equitable partition theorem ensures distinct parities for the compact localized states (CLSs) present in this class of flat-band lattices and the extended eigenstates of the system. In the presence of on-site bosonic interactions, such models exhibit a conserved quantity, the parity of the number of particles located in all the CLSs in a unit cell. As a consequence, the Hilbert space presents local fragmentation, which is only revealed upon rotating the basis of the Hamiltonian that decouples the CLSs at the single-particle level. We find that the fragmentation is strong and also robust to the addition of long-range interactions. As an example, we numerically analyze the fragmentation of the one-dimensional pyrochlore chain, which exhibits nonintegrable sectors, effective single-particle sectors, and frozen states. We also show that the entanglement entropies form a nested-dome structure typical of these fragmented systems and that thermalization is restricted to each subsector.
We study Bose-Hubbard models in a family of diamond necklace lattices with n central sites. The single-particle spectrum of these models presents compact localized states (CLSs) that occupy the up and down sites of each diamond. By performing an appropriate basis rotation, the fragmentation of the many-boson Hilbert space becomes apparent in the adjacency graph of the Hamiltonian, showing disconnected subsectors with a wide range of dimensions. The models present a conserved quantity related to the occupation of the single-particle CLSs that uniquely identifies the different subsectors of the many-boson Hilbert space. Due to the fragmentation of the Hilbert space, the distribution of entanglement entropies of the system presents a nested-dome structure. We find weak thermalization through subsector-restricted entanglement evolution and a wide range of entanglement entropy scalings from area-law to logarithmic growth. Additionally, we observe how the distinguishability between the different domes increases with the number of central sites and we explain the mechanism behind this fact by analyzing the graph structure of the Hamiltonian.
We find that rank deficiency of the local Hamiltonian in a classically fragmented model is the key mechanism leading to quantum Hilbert space fragmentation. The rank deficiency produces local null directions that can generate entangled frozen states (EFS): entangled states embedded in mobile classical Krylov sectors that do not evolve under Hamiltonian dynamics. When the entangled frozen subspace is non-empty, the mobile classical sector splits into a mobile quantum Krylov subspace and an entangled frozen subspace, and the model exhibits quantum fragmentation. We establish this mechanism in four models of increasing symmetry structure: an asymmetric qubit projector with no symmetry, the Z2-symmetric GHZ projector, a Z3-symmetric cyclic qutrit projector, and the Temperley-Lieb model. For the asymmetric and GHZ projector models, we obtain closed-form expressions for irreducible Krylov dimensions, degeneracies, and sector multiplicities. The all-mobile-sector EFS in these two models exhibits a sub-volume-law bipartite entanglement entropy scaling as S∼L. Further, we introduce the notion of weak and strong quantum fragmentation, the quantum counterpart of the weak-strong distinction in classical fragmentation. After removing the EFS, the mobile quantum Krylov subspace decomposes into irreducible blocks. In the weak case, the number of irreducible blocks remains O(1), each is individually ergodic with Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble (GOE) level statistics, and the unresolved spectrum follows an mGOE distribution. In the strong case, the number of irreducible blocks grows with system size, and the gap-ratio distribution approaches Poisson as L→∞.
Translationally invariant flatband Hamiltonians with interactions lead to a many-body localization transition. Our models are obtained from single-particle lattices hosting a mix of flat and dispersive bands, and equipped with fine-tuned two--body interactions. Fine-tuning of the interaction results in an extensive set of local conserved charges and a fragmentation of the Hilbert space into irreducible sectors. In each sector, the conserved charges originate from the flatband and act as an effective disorder inducing a transition between ergodic and localized phases upon variation of the interaction strength. Such fine-tuning is possible in arbitrary lattice dimensions and for any many-body statistics. We present computational evidence for this transition with spinless fermions.
We investigate thermalization in finite quantum systems with strong long-range interactions. Nearly conserved quantities inherited from the fully connected limit organize the Hilbert space into weakly coupled sectors and split the many-body spectrum into energy bands. Despite the resulting breakdown of global ergodicity, quantum chaos develops within individual energy bands, enabling the definition of microcanonical ensembles within the bands. This supports a band-resolved formulation of thermalization, which we term fragmented eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (fETH). Unlike conventional ETH, finite-size scaling in fETH obeys a symmetry-imposed selection rule that restricts which system sizes can be compared. This band-resolved description has consequences for equilibrium statistical mechanics. While microcanonical ensembles remain confined to a single band, canonical ensembles mix different bands. This mismatch explains ensemble inequivalence without invoking equilibrium phase transitions. Our results apply broadly to Hamiltonians near a fully permutation-symmetric limit.
We study Hilbert-space fragmentation and thermalization in a one-dimensional dipole-conserving Bose-Hubbard chain. By analyzing the structure of the Hamiltonian matrix in the Fock basis, we show that the system exhibits weak Hilbert-space fragmentation. We further construct an exponentially large family of frozen product states and derive analytical upper and lower bounds on their number. Using exact diagonalization, we examine the consequences of weak fragmentation for eigenstate half-chain entanglement, density relaxation dynamics, and level statistics. All these quantities reveal a transition from a weak eigenstate thermalization regime to a nonergodic regime with increasing on-site interaction strength. These results show that weak Hilbert-space fragmentation \textit{does not} preclude quantum chaos or thermalization, and provides a minimal platform for studying the interplay of dipole conservation, weak fragmentation, and ergodicity breaking.
We investigate one-dimensional (1D) and 2D cross-stitch lattices with hard-core bosons and analytically construct exact ground states that feature macroscopic degeneracy. The construction relies on the presence of a flat band in the single particle spectrum and the orthogonality of the associated compact localized states (CLS). Up to filling fraction $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$, the ground state is constructed by occupying the CLS. Exactly at $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$, the ground state becomes a Wigner crystal. For higher filling fractions, the ground state is constructed by filling the CLS sites completely one by one. Macroscopic degeneracy arises from the multiple choices available when occupying or filling the CLS sites. An occupied CLS acts as an impenetrable barrier for bosons both in 1D and 2D, leading to Hilbert space fragmentation. A similar phenomenology also holds for hard-core bosons on the diamond chain and its higher dimensional generalizations. We also discuss the mapping of these hard-core models onto spin models with quantum many-body scars.